Raising Funds to Provide Emergency Grants to Students

The Institute of International Education has a long history of providing emergency assistance to students and scholars facing emergencies around the world. Through the Emergency Student Fund (ESF), IIE is able to respond to urgent crises in an immediate and effective manner by providing financial support to students when emergencies in their home countries threaten to jeopardize the completion of their studies.

IIE’s Emergency Student Fund provides grants to post-secondary international students matriculated at accredited educational institutions outside their home countries whose sources of support have been impacted by natural disaster or other crises.

For example, these funds, which are often matched by host universities, enable students to continue paying tuition and replace essential items such as books and computers damaged in natural disasters. The Emergency Student Fund may also provide urgently-needed medical equipment and care to students facing serious illness or disability.

In response to specific emergencies, IIE will issue a call for applications to the Emergency Student Fund. In general, students must be nominated by their host universities, which are also encouraged to provide as much support to students as possible.

Building on a Freeman Foundation designation of $2.5 million for emergencies involving students from East and Southeast Asia studying in the U.S., IIE is issuing a request to donors around the world to support this fund for other world areas. Since 2010, IIE’s ESF has provided over $1 million in emergency grants to over 400 students from Japan, Haiti, Libya, Thailand, Phillipines and Syria whose home sources of financial support were impacted by crisis or natural disaster. The Institute seeks to have a fund in place so that IIE can respond quickly to help students when disasters and emergencies arise. To support IIE’s Emergency Student Fund, please make a donation now and designate your gift by entering “ESF” in the gift designation field.

For questions or further information on IIE’s Emergency Student Fund, please contact esf@iie.org.